– – – – – – – – – Warning for HUGE SPOILERS – – – – – – – – –
I put aside my reluctance and read the latest Saga volume online. I really don’t care for reading a lot on screens- but this one wasn’t available at my library in paper copy, so I accessed it on Hoopla. That’s a different kind of experience. I spent several days on it instead of reading it in one sitting, but mostly because I’d stop after one chapter, ready to get off the screen and do something else. I didn’t spend the usual time lingering over the artwork, which is part of what I enjoy about a copy in hand. So didn’t quite feel as immersed in this one.
It continues the story of Hazel’s patched-together family. Her father is dead now. She hasn’t really dealt with the loss, shutting off her emotions. It gives her more common ground with Squire, son of the TV-head robot prince who lives with them. He’s quit talking entirely. Alana finds counseling for Squire, but struggles to keep up with payments. Living on yet another new alien planet, she’s fallen into shady lines of work (peddling dubious formula products on the streets and handling drug deals in other arenas) to support her family, and has a new business partner- a guy who’s also hiding his past. They all fall in with a new group of odd ones. Alana is standoffish towards their leader, a guy with moose antlers and a casual atittude masking his real intentions. Hazel is really taken by the band they have as a side gig, starts learning to play an instrument. Lots of mundane stuff in here about the music, the kids’ interactions (Squire admits he has a crush on Hazel, she doesn’t take that well), the generation gap. Alana’s parenting skills (or lack thereof) get called into question.
Other scenes on other worlds keep us in the loop about what’s happening with Gwen and the Will (who’s accompanied by Lying Cat again). I really could have done without the explicit scenes there. The sexual joke was so obviously set up it was cringe-worthy. There’s more politicking too, with hired hitmen from the Wings who now not only want to find Hazel, but do in everybody she knows, to completely wipe out the idea of peaceful relations her very existence personifies. And of course I loved the references to the fictional novelist Oswald, a running thread that links together some otherwise completely opposite characters. I hope that turns into something bigger.
Borrowed from the public library. Previous book in the series.
